Galatians 2:2

The *good news about Jesus is for everyone. God wants *Jews and *Gentiles alike to trust Jesus Christ. When the *apostles first taught about Jesus, mostly *Jewish people became Christians. Often they continued to obey the *Jewish laws. The false teachers were trying to force all Christians to obey the *Jewish laws. They even said that *Gentile Christians must become *Jews too. And the false teachers caused trouble when *Gentiles became Christians. If a *Gentile man becomes a *Jew, someone *circumcises him. And a *Jewish leader *circumcises a *Jewish boy when the boy is 8 days old. This is the mark that he is a true *Jew (Genesis 17:1-14). But Paul said that they did not need to do this to *Gentile Christians. We do not become Christians because we obey the *Jewish law. Instead, we become Christians because Jesus died for us.

God wanted Paul to go to Jerusalem. The leaders of the *church in Jerusalem did not ask Paul to visit them. The *apostles were the main leaders in the *church in Jerusalem. They had great authority among all Christians. The decision that these leaders made affected Paul’s work. In fact, their decision affected unity in the *church. Paul knew that the leaders might agree with him. If so, Paul could be confident that God wanted him to *preach to the *Gentiles. However, the leaders might not have agreed with what Paul taught. They might have insisted that the *Gentile Christians must become *Jews. That would have divided *Jewish and *Gentile Christians.

Paul and the leaders had a private meeting. In a public meeting, people sometimes like to cause trouble. But Paul and the leaders wanted to discuss carefully. They had to make the right decision. Paul *preached about Jesus. The *apostles and Christian leaders *preached about Jesus. They had to know if they were *preaching the same message.